Dunlin

Calidris alpina

The name, first applied long ago, simply means "little dun-colored (gray-brown) bird," a good description of the Dunlin in winter plumage. Spending the winter farther north than most of its relatives, this species is a familiar sight along the outer beaches during the cold months, as far north as New England and even southern Alaska. It is often in large flocks; in flight, these flocks may twist and bank in unison, in impressive aerial maneuvers. In breeding plumage, the Dunlin is so much more brightly colored as to seem like a different bird.

Conservation status

Numbers wintering in some coastal areas have declined noticeably since the 1970s; the reasons for this are unknown.

The name, first applied long ago, simply means "little dun-colored (gray-brown) bird," a good description of the Dunlin in winter plumage. Spending the winter farther north than most of its relatives, this species is a familiar sight along the outer beaches during the cold months, as far north as New England and even southern Alaska. It is often in large flocks; in flight, these flocks may twist and bank in unison, in impressive aerial maneuvers. In breeding plumage, the Dunlin is so much more brightly colored as to seem like a different bird.

Photo Gallery

Feeding Behavior

Forages by picking at items on surface or by probing in mud, sometimes with very rapid "stitching" motion, probing several times per second. May feed by day or night.

Eggs

4, sometimes 2-3, perhaps very rarely more than 4. Olive or blue-green to buff, with brown blotches concentrated at larger end. Incubation is by both sexes (mostly female during night, male during day), 20-24 days. Young: Downy young leave nest soon after hatching. Both parents tend young at first, but female often departs after a few days. Young feed themselves, are able to fly at age of 19-21 days.

Young

Downy young leave nest soon after hatching. Both parents tend young at first, but female often departs after a few days. Young feed themselves, are able to fly at age of 19-21 days.

Diet

Mostly insects on tundra, other small invertebrates on coast. Diet varies with season and location. On breeding grounds feeds heavily on insects, including midges, crane flies, beetles, and others. On coast eats wide variety of small creatures found in intertidal zone, including marine worms, snails and other mollusks, amphipods and other crustaceans, sometimes small fish. Sometimes eats seeds and leaves.

Nesting

In display flight, male circles slowly over breeding territory, fluttering and gliding, while singing. On ground, reacts to intruding males by advancing, pausing to raise one wing high over back. Courtship may involve ritualized nest-making movements. Nest site is on ground, usually well hidden in or under grass clump or in hummock. Nest is a shallow scrape, lined with leaves and grass. Both sexes make scrapes, but female chooses one and completes nest.

Songs and Calls

How climate change could affect this bird's range

In the broadest and most detailed study of its kind, Audubon scientists have used hundreds of thousands of citizen-science observations and sophisticated climate models to predict how birds in the U.S. and Canada will react to climate change.

Dunlin

Each map is a visual guide to where a particular bird species may find the climate conditions it needs to survive in the future. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”

The colors indicate the season in which the bird may find suitable conditions— blue for winter, yellow for summer (breeding), and green for where they overlap (indicating their presence year-round).

The darker the shaded area, the more likely it is the bird species will find suitable climate conditions to survive there.

The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future.

The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080.

You can play or pause the animation with the orange button in the lower left, or select an individual frame to study by clicking on its year.

The darker the color, the more favorable the climate conditions are for survival. The outlined areas represent approximate current range for each season. More on reading these maps.

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